The French Applied and Industrial Mathematical Society

The French Applied and Industrial Mathematical Society, Société de Mathématique Appliquées et Industrielle, was founded in 1983 [1]:-

... by a group of French applied mathematicians who had become aware of the specific nature of their discipline and wanted to work together for its continuing growth.

One might, however, see the creation of the Society being ten years earlier for, in 1973, the Groupe pour l'Advancemant des Méthodes Numérique de l'Ingénieure was founded. As its name indicates the organisation promoted the development of numerical analysis in an industrial setting. When the French Applied and Industrial Mathematical Society was founded in 1983 the Groupe pour l'Advancemant des Méthodes Numérique de l'Ingénieure became part of the broader organisation. It remained, however, as a special interest group within the Society and three further special interest groups have also been organised.

The French Applied and Industrial Mathematical Society sponsor the Blaise Pascal Prize which is awarded annually by the French Academy of Sciences for outstanding work in applications of mathematics and numerical computation to engineering.

There are many examples on on-going cooperation between the Society and the French Mathematical Society. Together they promote the public awareness of mathematics, trying to raise the profile of the subject with the general public. They also cooperate on reports on the teaching of mathematics and together provide information on mathematics jobs in teaching and universities.